I was talking today to a former Church officer-bearer -- a member of a Church which was a member of my fraternal -- situated in an area, or ward, which is 64% White (during the night, as the census has it). The member told me that a White congregation had burgeoned, while Black members like her now felt like outsiders. The Church was no longer warm towards them -- another way of saying it had grown cold. I did what I sometimes do, and looked at the fruit. First stop, Facebook Friends. The minister has more than 200 Facebook Friends, of whom 99% White. The remaining 1% are not in his ward or congregation, but colleagues in ministry. OBSERVATION: As in many cases, no one could accuse him of being driven by racial targeting or cultural ideals (and so on) -- yet the reality surely speaks volumes. There is some undetected signaling going on, and it is strong. The worrying part for me is the spiritual aspect. It has to be an indication that culture has precedence over Christ. Scripture makes it clear: nothing may have precedence over Christ, or one's own salvation is lost. Incidentally the 64% (above) surely takes on a different appearance again when full statistics are taken into account -- other religions, for instance.
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